Lucky and Thankful

Isn’t it amazing how we become so used to things in our everyday life? If you’re like me, you probably go through the day from one scheduled commitment to the next, but don’t really take the time to appreciate the things that happen or exist along the way to make it all possible.

Years ago, I worked at the beach. At first, I looked at the ocean every day – I mean, my job literally was on the ocean, so it was pretty hard to miss. But, as the years passed by, most days I didn’t even notice the ocean. How do you not pay attention to an ocean?!?! It just became part of the environment and the “novelty” wore off. Looking back, that seems crazy because I love the ocean. and sometimes I find myself thinking about all the creatures that live in it. How long it has been on Earth, how many different people have used it for everything from food to commerce to leisure throughout history, etc.

Over time, this view became commonplace (craziness!)

The point of all this is that is that, whenever possible, I urge you to avoid ignoring whatever the equivalent of the ocean is in your daily life because when you think about it, you’re probably overlooking amazing things, instead of appreciating them.

In my life, sometimes I have days where I’m very aware of all the little things and I can’t believe how lucky I am. I had one of those days recently and wanted to share some of those things with you.

Things in my daily life that AMAZED me

I got to sleep in a BED,

in a warm HOUSE,

I get to sleep until either my DAUGHTER or the ALARM on my CELL PHONE let me know it was time to wake up,

brushed my teeth with RUNNING WATER,

went to my CLOSET, chose an OUTFIT, put a cute outfit on my baby,

went to the REFRIGERATOR to get FOOD and BOTTLED WATER,

pet my DOG,

left my baby with her GRADPAP as they watched TV,

I got into my CAR, drove to WORK, where I work on a COMPUTER, and am surrounded by fabulous PEOPLE,

and on the way home I get to listen to the RADIO,

When I get home I see my perfect little baby, hang out with her and my HUSBAND, maybe spend a few seconds on the INTERNET after my baby goes to sleep in her BED, and

at some point in the evening take a SHOWER, eat DINNER, and then back to bed to start all over again.

Look at those words in caps: bed, house, daughter, alarm, cell phone, running water, closet, outfit, refrigerator, food, bottled water, dog, grandpap, tv, car, work, computer, people, radio, husband, internet, shower, and dinner. Those are some pretty super basic words in the United States. They’re things most of us have. But think about how lucky we are to have those things! It’s seriously nuts! I spent some time thinking about what those words really meant.

What do those things really mean?

Running water – what??? That’s amazing!!! Food – that’s in a grocery store (holy cow!) – there’s a whole industry of people gathering our food, packaging it, and putting it on a shelf so we can go to one place and put the items we want in our cart to take home! It’ s really mind-blowing when you think about it!

Five of the words on my list are living things, and they’re the most important “things.” How amazing is it that I met a person to share my life with? We met nearly twenty years ago, and still actually enjoy being together! That’s pretty awesome! How many decisions do you make as a teenager that actually still seem like a good choice when you’re in your mid-30’s?

One of my words is grandpap. How lucky that my baby gets to hang out with her awesome grandpap while my husband and I work?!? Her grandpap loves her to the moon and back!

My daughter and her Grandpap – best buds!

Another word is daughter. For me, this is the most important word on my list, and takes things to a whole new level of thankfulness and luck – more than a house or running water (although those are arguably very important). My daughter is my life. If you’ve read some of my other posts, then you know that because I developed pre-eclampsia/borderline HELLP, she was born twelve weeks early, and spent that entire time in the hospital. She had a very serious lung condition. I’m so very lucky that I had great prenatal care and that my doctors did all they could to help me stay pregnant as long as possible so both she and I were safe.

My favorite human in the world!

I’m beyond fortunate that we’re in a country with amazing medical care and technology. She had a fantastic NICU team that took amazing care of her while she was hospitalized. She is now thriving, but without all the things mentioned above, along with luck and destiny, it wouldn’t be possible. When I think of what she has overcome, and all the ways the stars had to align for her to get where she is, I couldn’t be more amazed or thankful.

I really believe that all the things in life happen for a reason, although I certainly don’t know the reason for everything. Why was my daughter born early, and why did she have to endure all that she did in those early days? I have no idea, but I really do believe there was a purpose and that it somehow continues to impact our family’s lives. Would I go back and change things? No, because I do believe that it happened for a reason. I know one day we’ll look back and it’ll all make sense.

I also know that there will be many days between now and then that I’m annoyed by traffic, or bummed because I can’t wait until next season of The Royals TV show to find out if King Liam gets the throne, or sad that Dunkin’ Donuts only has the brownie batter doughnut in February, or a million other things. But, I am doing my best to have more days that are focused on the awe of things that we accept as part of our “regular” life.

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About Stephanie Feals

Stephanie is an only child, married to an only child, raising an only child! Stephanie and her husband (Brian) are Pittsburghers at heart, but made the move to Charleston in ’08 after moving around the country. Stephanie has a background in television, and has a (not so secret) dream to start a talk show and to publish books. She’s currently working on her first book and recently started a blog, called Speaking of Today (https://speakingoftoday.com), with her friend and fellow mom Dawn.
Stephanie loves to spend every spare second with her daughter Kennedy. Kennedy was born 12 weeks early and spent the full 12 weeks in the hospital. Thankfully Kennedy is totally healthy, but the experience of being a preemie mom certainly changed Stephanie’s life! She looks forward to sharing stories of mommyhood with the Charleston Moms Blog readers.